UK late payment culture 'showing signs of improvement', research reveals

The so-called late payment culture in the UK is 'showing signs of improvement', according to research carried out by invoicing solutions firm Tungsten Network.

The research revealed that the average time taken to pay suppliers has improved by 14% since 2016. UK firms now pay their suppliers 'ten days quicker than the European average', Tungsten Network found.

It analysed more than 19 million global transactions, and found that 19.4% of the 1.69 million payments made to suppliers in the UK came from FTSE 100 businesses.

However, a separate analysis of government payment practices data revealed that only 9% of UK large businesses are currently signed up to an official payment code, such as the Prompt Payment Code, which is supported by the government.

'Prompt payment is an important contributor to maintaining a healthy supply chain, so it's encouraging to see from our data that the UK payments culture has seen some improvement over the past two years,' said Richard Hurwitz, CEO of Tungsten Network.

'It will be interesting to see whether the government's proposal, encouraging large businesses to appoint a board member to be responsible for making sure invoices are paid on time, has any impact on the payments culture across the UK.'